Merida even includes a port on the back of the saddle that contains a 12-piece multi-tool It has a modern shape with a pressure-relief channel and cutout, and is on-trend short at 220mm. David Caudery / Our MediaĪt the back, a carbon-shafted 27.2mm seatpost is fitted with Merida’s Expert SL saddle. The Rival Edition gets a standard bar and stem, as opposed to the 9000’s fully integrated cockpit. In effect, this should keep front-end responses sharp.Ī parallel 73.5-degree seat angle brings an efficient pedalling position too, pitching the rider over the bottom bracket somewhat. Thankfully, Merida hasn’t looked to slacken the head angle much to calm proceedings further – merely knocking it half a degree down to 73.5 compared to the equivalent race bike. The long wheelbase (1,029mm) should bring handling stability into the equation too. My XL/58cm test bike came with a tall 629mm stack (36mm taller than the Scultura), while the 397mm reach is 11mm shy of the Scultura’s race geometry. The Scultura Endurance’s geometry is all about all-day comfort, compared to the Scultura’s long and low racing setup. Merida Scultura Endurance Rival Edition geometry In the centre of the boxy bottom bracket zone is a press-fit 86.5 shell. The neatly hidden seat clamp secures a standard round 27.2mm-diameter carbon seatpost, and the seat tube tapers into a cutaway to provide the 35mm tyre clearance. Merida claims these CNC-machined alloy inserts can reduce the brakes’ operating temperatures by up to 35 per cent, theoretically reducing the chances of overheating with heavy use. David Caudery / Our Mediaįlat-mount disc brakes are combined with Merida’s own ‘cooling fins’, a detail the brand introduced when it first started designing its road bikes with disc brakes. SRAM Rival hydraulic disc brakes are paired with Merida’s cooling fins. It’s not the lightest endurance bike platform around in comparison, Giant’s Defy Advanced frame is 920g, and Cannondale’s latest Synapse is 1,015g, but it’s certainly no heavyweight either. Merida claims a weight of 1,124g for the Endurance frame (medium-sized, painted with all mounts and bosses in place) and a 411g fork (uncut steerer). If you run full-length mudguards, the tyre clearance is reduced to a still-generous 32mm (Cervélo’s Caledonia will only accept 31mm-wide tyres with mudguards). The generous 35mm tyre clearance is welcome on a bike of this type, and the addition of proper mudguard mounts and a removable bridge on the rear stays gives the bike year-round readiness. In short, you have plenty of options to upgrade your cockpit down the line should you want to. The most expensive build (the 9000) gets Merida’s one-piece fully integrated SL 1P cockpit, while the Shimano Ultegra Di2-equipped 8000 uses FSA’s SMR ACR stem system. On this Rival Edition, the internal routing is paired with a standard bar and stem. It’s a worthy contender for our 2023 Endurance Bike of the Year title. That’s not to say the Endurance isn’t a modern design and the front end of the bike fully routes its brake hoses through the headset. Merida claims it can gain the same amount of compliance through the shaping of the seatstays, seat tube and carbon seatpost without having to resort to dropping the stays. The Scultura Endurance frameset, much like Merida’s other road and gravel offerings, eschews the trend of dropped seatstays in favour of a more traditional diamond-shaped frame. On top of that, the Scultura Endurance also has a slacker head tube angle and a slightly longer wheelbase which makes the bike in combination with the wider tyres more stable and safer at speed.There’s a more traditional rear-triangle design without Merida’s dropped seatstays. Due to the fact that up to 35 mm wide slick tyres can be fitted (stock tyres are 32 mm), which can be run with less pressure than a 25 or 28 mm tyre, the ride becomes more comfortable than a conventional road racing bike. It comes with a longer head tube compared to the Scultura or Reacto, making the seating position more upright and therefore more comfort-orientated. It combines innovative integration systems, both for brake and shifting cables as well as the seat post clamp, which are heavily influenced by our more aerodynamically optimised machines, with spring comfort elements which you would expect from an endurance road bike.įor the Scultura Endurance, we have created a specific geometry, which suits the needs of a long-distance, comfort-orientated ride perfectly. The Scultura Endurance is clearly a comfort-orientated road bike, suitable for long-distance rides, handling tarmac equally well as rough pavement or even light fire roads.
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